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Shooting Star

Frank Calder - ex-soldier and sacked police hostage negotiator - is just eking out a living as a mediator when he's approached by Pat Carson, patriarch of the dynastic Carson family. Pat wants him to deliver ransom money to kidnappers who've abducted his great-granddaughter, Anne. Frank urges Pat to call in the law, but he refuses, since police bungling nearly cost the life of another Carson child kidnapped years before. So a reluctant Frank begins to deal with the kidnappers, and quickly becomes convinced that both Carson kidnappings were motivated by something other than money.

Over several feverish days, Frank searches for suspects in the web of Carson family businesses and deals, marriages and indiscretions, rivalries and intrigues. And all the while he knows that if his instincts are wrong the girl will surely die...

Born in South Africa, Peter Temple moved to Australia in 1980 as a journalist. He settled in Sydney, before moving to Melbourne to edit Australian Society magazine. He has worked extensively as a journalist and editor, for newspapers and magazines in several countries. He has also taught journalism, editing and media studies at a number of universities. Temple was the first senior lecturer in Editing and Publishing, playing an important role in establishing the prestigious Professional Writing and Editing course at Melbourne's RMIT University. In 1995, he became a self-employed editor and full-time writer.